Police to probe whether Yingluck really needs an official bodyguard
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The national police chief has instructed the Special Branch Police Bureau to review whether it is appropriate to provide security personnel for former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Royal Thai Police spokesman |Pol Lt-General Prawut Thawornsiri said
The move has come after public criticism in social media about Yingluck having Pol Colonel Wathunyu Withayapalothai serving as her personal bodyguard.
Prawut said the deployment of police to provide security for VIPs – especially politicians and former PMs – would be approved on a yearly basisi by the national police chief.
He said the police chief had instructed the bureau to scrutinise cases of police officials serving as police escorts for VIPs. “If any assignment is found to be unnecessary, it would be cancelled and the police in question called back,’’ he said.
He said the bureau had also been instructed to review its criteria of such assignments and to make regulations clearer.
“In the case of Wathanyu providing bodyguard service to Yingluck, if the bureau believes it is inappropriate, the Royal Thai Police would recall him,’’ Prawut said.
